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As the years go by our fellow Troopers are lifted out of the LZ and our lives. We will keep you advised of these sad events when we can and post the information here and the BWS Newsletter. When BWS members provide information we will try to pass on the information to the rest of the association. If anyone has pictures and memories they would like to share please send them to us. Our intention is to have space for memorialization for all that pass on the BWS site. Surviving family members will have approval of these special pages before we post other than public domain obituary information. BWS |
Subject: Craig Matlock
To All,
Some of you may already have heard and some of you may not have known Craig. On May,1 2008, Trooper Craig Matlock crossed over to Fiddler's Green after a long and gallant battle with cancer. I had the honor of flying with Craig as the crew chief on Headhunter 38 along with AC Bob Phipps as my first assignment with Apache Troop.. Craig was a great crew chief and a good shot with an M 60 and was patient with a newly minted, still wet behind the ears "Wobbly One".
I spoke with Craig's son, Matthew, last night and we can send cards and remembrances to his family at 2095 6th Street, Blythe, CA 92225. I'm sure they would appreciate hearing from anyone that knew and served with Craig. There will be an obituary published next Wednesday in the "Palo Verde Valley Times" (local newspaper for Blythe, CA).
Craig was a good soldier, a good friend, a good father, a good husband and a man I was proud to know. In the end, that's how we'd all like to be remembered.
I've attached a picture of the Headhunter Crew Chiefs circa 1967. Craig is the first one on the left standing on the back row ( L-R Craig, Phil Reams, Rick Novia. kneeling, Bill Stonemean, Ralph Horowitz and Mike Coates). We wish him Godspeed on his final journey.
Mike Bond
Headhunter 39 | |
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| Headhunter Crew Chiefs 1967 Standing L-R Craig Matlock, Phil Reams, Rick Novia. kneeling, Bill Stonemean, Ralph Horowitz and Mike Coates |
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| Sad news for us all. Jim Weeks, BRAVO Troop Commander,HQ & B Troop 67-68, passed away 2/25/2008 at his home in Daleville, AL. He was 73. Funeral services were held March 2, 2008, at Daleville Baptist Church. On Wednesday, March 5, 2008, the family will receive friends at Farmers Funeral Home in Silsbee, Texas, from noon until service time at 1 p.m. Burial will follow at Davis Cemetery, Colmesneil, Texas. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Daleville Baptist Church, 100 Donnell Blvd., Daleville, AL 36322, or to the Special Operations Warrior Fund, P.O. Box 13483, Tampa, FL 33681. Mr. Weeks was preceded in death by a son, CW5 Jamie D. Weeks, his parents and a sister. Surviving are his wife, Glenda Weeks, Daleville; daughter, Brenda Parks (Ned) Akron, Ohio; daughter-in-law, Robin Weeks, Clarksville, Tenn.; a son, Joel D. Weeks (Becky) Newnan, Ga.; seven grandchildren, Lauren, Jeremy, Courtney, Jason, Lindsey, Emily, Samantha. From the Dothan Eagle from 2/27/2008. | |
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| MAJOR Jimmy Weeks 1967 |
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| Jimmy Weeks in 2006 |
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There is a place called Fiddler's Green. It is the happy land imagined by cavalry troopers and sailors, where there is perpetual mirth, a fiddle that never stops playing and dancers who never tire.
Written anonymously for the U.S. Cavalry, published in a 1923 U.S. Cavalry Manual. It is still used today in cavalry units to memorialize the deceased.
- Halfway down the trail to hell
- In a shady meadow green,
- Are the souls of all dead troopers camped
- Near a good old-time canteen
- And this eternal resting place
- Is known as Fiddler’s Green.
- Marching past, straight through to hell,
- The infantry are seen,
- Accompanied by the Engineers,
- Artillery and Marine,
- For none but the shades of Cavalrymen
- Dismount at Fiddlers' Green.
- Though some go curving down the trail
- To seek a warmer scene,
- No trooper ever gets to Hell
- Ere he's emptied his canteen,
- And so rides back to drink again
- With friends at Fiddlers' Green.
- And so when man and horse go down
- Beneath a saber keen,
- Or in a roaring charge or fierce melee
- You stop a bullet clean,
- And the hostiles come to get your scalp,
- Just empty your canteen,
- And put your pistol to your head
- And go to Fiddlers' Green.
From Wikipedia
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